Black Bullet, White Justice
by Epsilon Zeta
Summary: After mankind lost the war to the Gastrea, they isolated themselves in Varanium Monoliths for safety. But that does not stop them from believing that they can reach the blue sky...
1. Symphony Rerelease

Gastrea – a mysterious virus that suddenly appeared before mankind. This virus enters the human body through bodily fluids causing infection. It alters the victim's DNA and form. Because of its contagiousness, it immediately spread throughout the entire world. After its breakout, Gastrea quickly took mankind's spot at the top of the food chain.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing about Black Bullet or Kamen Rider. **

**First Shot: Symphony Rerelease**

During the ten years after mankind lost the war to Gastrea in 2021, Monoliths were created from Varanium, a metal that prevents Gastrea from entering human settlements. However, some Gastrea are able to bypass the barriers. As a result, Civil Security Agencies were created and organized two-man teams to fight the Gastrea: one being the Promoter, tasked with analyzing battle situations. The other being the Initiator, young girls who possess the Gastrea Virus but are able to maintain their human form and gain superhuman abilities as a result.

In order to reduce the death rate of law enforcement officers, a law came into effect, stating that in any incident in which Gastrea are involved; they cannot enter the premise without a Promoter and Initiator pair.

So the chief from the homicide department found himself a bit surprised when only the Promoter came to the 'Grand Tanaka' apartment complex. What was more surprising is the fact that the Promoter only appeared to be a high school student clad in the uniform of Magata High School. "Can I see your license?"

The boy merely handed over a card, identifying him as Satomi Rentaro of the Tendo Civil Security Agency.

"Tendo Civil Security Company, huh? Never heard of it." The older man gave the card back to Rentaro.

"We aren't very well-known. Hey, sorry for rushing, but why don't we get down to business already, Inspector…?"

"Tadashima," introduced the man in a rough tone before leading the way to the apartment elevator. "The guy from room 102 called us while screaming, and said that blood was leaking from the roof. After putting together all the information we have, we're certain that it's a Gastrea. Now that you're here, we can finally enter the premises and investigate properly."

"The law is there for safety reasons and to reduce the number of victims," countered Rentaro.

The older man grunted once. "Hmph. By the way, where's your Initiator partner?"

"I-uh, I don't think I will need her help at this time."

* * *

"_Rentaro, that idiot! Regardless of the urgency, how could he throw me, his cute fiancée, off the bicycle and leave?! You agree that's stupid too, right?!"_

'Man, he's going to be in for it…' With a heavy sigh, the young man on the receiving end of Aihara Enju's phone call tried to get the conversation back on track. "Yeah, I do think that's a bit silly. Now did you have something actually important to tell me or are you just venting?"

"_You're the one who built his belt! You can track him down, right?!"_

"Honestly, you should have just remembered the job location in the first place."

"_All he told me was we had a job and to get ready!"_

The young man shifted in his seat and turned to his laptop to resume the work he had been doing earlier before getting the call from Enju. "Then why don't you try calling Kisara-san? She should have the job location on her."

"_If I call her, then she'll call Rentaro to find out what's going on! Then one talk leads to another which then leads to dates and then to marriage and then to babies!"_

He really wondered where that leap in logic came from. Maybe all Cursed Children were like that. "Enju, you really ought to not let yourself get worked up like-"

"_Someone's coming."_ She paused for a moment. _"I see it. I have to go."_

Ah, work was calling. "Take care then." As soon as he hung up the phone, he dialled another number on it and waited for the recipient to answer. "You're in position?"

"_Yes, yes! The festival's going to begin soon!"_

"Good." He had to see how the belt did. It had been a year's worth of hard work to translate the Rider system data he had on him into something that could actually be built with this world's resources. He really had to thank Sumire for all of her help. Her research was in an entirely different area but she had still given him direction on how to build the armour and weapons.

With luck, the first test run will go well against the Gastrea they were hunting. Of course, it depended on the level of the Gastrea but it was likely a mere Stage I. Just to be safe, he decided to head over to the job site on his motorcycle. After all, if the system didn't work as planned and Enju got somehow incapacitated, he would need to save the day.

* * *

While Enju placed her phone away, her eyes were locked on to the man who looked like a walking corpse. A large wound, as if he was torn up, spread up to the tip of his shoulder and his throat; fresh blood was still gushing from it. A big puddle of blood had formed on the asphalt road where he was standing.

"Young lady, can you please give me some directions?"

She just stared at him for a while before the look in her eyes changed. Her face was now one of pity. "Mister, do you know what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's nothing I can do about it. No one can. Uhm... Well, do you have any last words? To your friends, your family or maybe someone else?"

Her behaviour was extremely puzzling to the man. "...What on earth are you talking about?"

"Well, that's it and there's nothing else I can say to you, even if I wanted to. But, Rentaro told me, 'It's your duty to convey the message to the aforementioned people', so I promise to pass them your words."

"I still don't follow, young lady."

She sighed softly. "Seems like you haven't noticed it yet. In that case, it'd be better to take a look at your body. But you should take it slow, so that you won't panic. If you do as I say, then you'll understand what I'm talking about."

He finally looked at himself and gasped. "W-what is this? Why haven't I noticed this before? Why haven't I felt any pain? How did this even happen to me? I remember…"

Enju stayed silent so he could get his last words out.

"I... remember. Yes, I became poor and then... I got lucky and got a job."

The job would have been at a company that specialized in cleaning solar cell modules. He figured that it would be tough, but he had a guaranteed and modest salary. And once he got back to his feet, he could return to his wife and baby girl.

"I wanted to call her and let her know the good news. I went out to the balcony…"

This was supposed to be a starting point to mending their strained relationship. But while he was waiting for the recipient to answer the call, he suddenly looked upwards and saw it.

That creature that was clinging to the wall on the fourth floor of the apartment. The creature that had red eyes and fell on him.

"...I was about to be killed by that Gastrea, so I ran away like hell and came here."

"That Gastrea left its body fluids in you," remarked Enju in a simple tone.

The man looked at two fang marks at the tip of his shoulder.

"So that explains it." He remembered the TV broadcasts that he had seen numerous times during the war. Laboratory rats that were injected with the Gastrea virus became strangely-shaped a few minutes later and screamed like newborn babies, leaving the audience speechless.

In a flash, he felt his calves became itchy. His body temperature grew and he felt a pressure as if his insides were swelling. It would not be long until he was no longer human.

"Young lady, my name is Sumiaki Okajima… and please tell my wife and daughter that I'm sorry for what I've done."

Those were his last words as his body temperature exceeded the critical point and his human form ripped itself apart. Out came eight long legs covered with hair with four pairs of vermillion eyes appearing in place of his head. His abdomen swelled like a ball, two wet glittering fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.

Enju immediately recognized the enemy type she was facing. "Gastrea confirmed— model: spider, Stage I."

The monster immediately spotted her and spat out some webbing which trapped one of Enju's legs. "Eh?! Ewww! This is all sticky!"

With a single screech, the spider then slapped her away, sending her crashing through a wooden fence.

"Enju, are you all right?!"

As she regained her senses, she saw that Rentaro had arrived on the scene. As soon as she got up, she ran over to him before kicking him in the groin.

"AAARRRGGHHH!"

The boy fell to his knees holding his groin with both hands and touched the ground with his forehead while his Initiator partner glared down at him. "How dare you show up in front of me as if nothing happened after you threw me off the bicycle?!"

"I take it you're mad?"

"Of course I am!" shouted the small girl.

"It really couldn't be helped. We had to move fast to take this job and if I didn't get here in time, Kisara would've kicked my ass, you know?" Work was difficult to find at times and as finances were tight at the Tendo Civil Security Agency, every little job helped.

"Since you abandoned me, I'm gonna kick your ass too."

"So what am I supposed to do then?!" shouted the high school student in frustration.

"Just bend over, raise your butt and accept your punishment like a man. Then you'll be kicked by both of us. Perhaps, you can even choose the way we'll kick you," chirped Enju without missing a beat.

"You're being silly. There must be another way." He was certainly not going to indulge her in this request if he could help it! The well-being of his ass was on the line!

The next moment, a gun-shot roared and broke through their conversation. Tadashima finally arrived, holding a revolver that was giving off smoke.

"Hey, you two! Are you trying to kill the enemy by making it laugh at you?! Do your job, Civil Security Agents!"

The shots fired by the older man didn't have any effect on the Gastrea as it instantly regenerated and had its sights focused on them. "Inspector, normal bullets won't work on them! It'll just agitate it more!" With a single motion, Rentaro took out his own gun before tossing it to Tadashima. "Take this! It has Varanium bullets!"

"Y-you're lending this to me?! But what about you?"

"I have another weapon on me! Just try not to waste your shots!"

The spider Gastrea began to approach but Tadashima fired at it with his new weapon. Thanks to the Black Bullets, the regenerative ability of the Gastrea did not kick in. "It's working!"

'This is it.' Rentaro normally wasn't one to feel nerves but if this system really worked… if the hard work of the young man he met a year ago paid off, then this could change the status quo of the world and perhaps allow humanity to take the fight to the Gastrea.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he loosened his blazer, revealing a strange looking belt on his waist with some sort of technological component in the buckle. He then took out a futuristic looking knuckle and pressed his open palm against it to activate it.

**R-E-A-D-Y!**

It let out a loud whirling sound, indicating it is ready to be used. He lined up his Knuckle perpendicular to the left and drew a straight line to the right with a serious expression.

"Henshin!"

Rentaro then placed it onto his belt, activating it.

**F-I-S-T O-N!**

A gold image of what appeared to be a cross appeared on the Knuckle before it started spinning and appeared in front of him. A mirage of the armor appeared right in front of the figure before it slammed onto him, donning him in her armor before the visor opened up, allowing some heat to vent. On his black bodysuit, he had white pads with blue lines on his side thighs, back, arms and the back of his pelvis. He had silver plated armor on his chest, white shoulder pads with golden highlights on it and finally, on his white helmet, there were golden highlights that revealed the red eyes.

"Gastrea… return the life you took to God!"

The inspector was flabbergasted to see the boy don some sort of strange and powerful looking armour. "W-what is that?"

Without wasting a moment, the newly armoured warrior took out a sword with a red blade and white handle before leaping towards the spider Gastrea and cutting off a limb. "IXA Calibur, Calibur Mode test completed. No outstanding defects."

As soon as he recovered on his feet, the weapon switched modes before blasting an array of shots at the Gastrea, forcing it back. "Gun Mode test completed. No outstanding defects."

With those tests done, Rentaro placed the weapon away before grabbing a whistle from the right side of his belt and placing it into the left portion of his buckle. Then he took a hold of the right portion of the buckle, clicked it once and had it detached.

**I-X-A K-N-U-C-K-L-E R-I-S-E U-P! **

"Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number Three! Rokuro Kabuto!" Armed with the knuckle, Rentaro spun forward and plowed his fist right through the large abdomen of the Gastrea. The attack had been strong enough for him to rip right through and land on the other side, sending pieces of flesh and purple Gastrea blood everywhere. "IXA Knuckle test completed. All functions working optimally."

"He… just ripped it apart? With his own fists…?" The inspector was no stranger to the power of Cursed Children but to an ordinary boy with that power was an entirely different story.

With the battle over, Rentaro deactivated the armour and caught a flying Enju. "Rentaro, that was awesome! You were like a Knight!"

"Not really." Well, if Enju's mood had improved, maybe she would forget the whole promise to kick his ass earlier.

"And a Knight definitely deserves a kiss from the Princess…!" She puckered up her lips and began moving towards his face.

"Who's a princess here?!" Luckily for Rentaro, the sound of a motorcycle interrupted any further attempts by Enju for a kiss. He could also spot an orange cartoonish looking bat flying beside the motorcycle rider.

Eventually, the vehicle came to a complete stop right in front of the Civil Security Agents and allowed for the inspector to get a good look at the rider once that man took off his helmet. He appeared quite weird with that crazy hair, yellow glasses, orange shirt, black shorts and a green scarf wrapped around his neck. The orange bat came to a halt, resting on the rider's shoulder. "How did everything work out, Rentaro?"

"All systems worked pretty well. It's all thanks to you, Masao."

The son of Kamen Rider Kiva smiled at that. "That's good to hear."

April 28, 2031 would be known in history as the day that Kamen Rider Ixa was reborn into the world to fight against mankind's enemies. With New Kiva fighting beside him, how will the war against the Gastrea unfold now?

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Well, finally got the debut chapter of this latest idea off my chest. Like my other non-Bujin Gaim stories, this will be low priority and only worked on when I'm in the mood for it. If this gets lots of reviews, I might consider shifting priorities.**


	2. Connected Chords

Gastrea – a mysterious virus that suddenly appeared before mankind. This virus enters the human body through bodily fluids causing infection. It alters the victim's DNA and form. Because of its contagiousness, it immediately spread throughout the entire world. After its breakout, Gastrea quickly took mankind's spot at the top of the food chain.

**Second Shot: Connected Chords**

"Oi, kid… what was that armour back there? It kinda reminds me of something," said Tadashima. He vaguely recalled seeing a television program in his youth that featured heroes in powerful suits based on insects and that white Armour triggered that memory.

"Well-" Before Rentaro could answer, he got interrupted by Enju.

"Rentaro, are you going to make it in time for the limited time sale?"

"Aw, crap!" Without wasting a moment, he took off down the street with his partner not too far behind him.

"Wait, where are you going?!" The inspector was shocked at how abruptly the duo left.

"Bean sprouts are six yen a bag!" shouted back the boy.

"B-bean sprouts?"

"He's got skewed priorities," answered the other youth that Rentaro had addressed as Masao. "That reminds me; you got the payment for the Gastrea job just now?"

"You're employed by the same agency?"

"More like a liaison." Masao flashed his identification card which identified him as a researcher with the Magata Public University with some additional info at the bottom linking him to the Tendo Civil Security Agency. "He's field testing some anti-Gastrea gear and weapons for me. If everything goes well, the data will be sent to Shiba Heavy Weapons so they can start production runs to get other Promoters outfitted with this hardware."

"What is that armour anyway? It kinda reminds me of something that I think I saw on TV once."

"Sorry, that info's classified for now."

Grunting once in annoyance, the inspector pulled out a payment ticket related to the job and handed it over. "Just show this to the bank and they'll deposit the money into whatever account you want."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you!" chirped the orange bat thing that circled around the young man's head before he took off on his motorcycle.

* * *

"So is there anything you want to say before you die, Satomi-kun?" asked the president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency with her arms crossed over her well-developed bust. Her hair was cut in the traditional Japanese princess style which covered her entire forehead and sides of her cheeks and jawline. As for her attire, it consisted of a connected, black dress, designed to resemble a flower at the end; petals slightly patterned and revealing her thighs. This was the uniform of Miwa Academy, a school where only the richest of females can enter.

Rentaro tried his best not to look directly into the eyes of his superior sitting in front of him. "I can't do anything about something that already happened."

"You idiot!" That was his only warning before he dodged to the right to avoid Tendo Kisara's punch which collided against the bulletin board behind him. Not wanting to give up, she chased him around the small office for at least two minutes before finally coming to a stop to catch her breath.

"K-Kisara-san?"

"Why did you run away?! You're infuriating!" growled the girl before settling back into her chair behind her desk again. "And call me President while we're at work!"

"Right…"

"So, in order to make it to the limited sale, you forgot to take your payment from the inspector. If it wasn't for the system we set up with Kurenai-kun, we would have gotten no payment at all!"

'True. At least half the money is better than none,' thought Rentaro to himself.

"And after all that, you only bought two bags of bean sprouts?" asked Kisara, pointing to the bags on her desk.

"You want one too?" This time, he didn't dodge her attack this time which was her simply throwing a bag right in his face.

"Listen to me, Satomi-kun. We're barely scraping by. Any revenue we're making is being used to pay the outstanding rent we owe plus all the other office expenses that were listed in Sasaki-kun's report! This is all because you're a big, worthless idiot! And more importantly… why did you not tell me there was a sale?!"

He really didn't know how to respond to that. The moment got even more awkward when her stomach began growling.

"Can't go on… I want steak…" Kisara merely slumped back into her chair.

"Oi, I feel the same too," grumbled Rentaro.

"Managing a company is harder than I expected. It's all because Satomi-kun's a worthless moron!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You're not blaming this on the company location? After all, we're located in a building where there's a gay bar downstairs, a cabaret on the same floor as our office and upstairs does… black market finance I think?"

"You don't get it. If we're a good company, location won't matter," shot back Kisara.

"Hm, I have an idea! You can go out in a maid uniform and hand out flyers!"

"Are you saying this Tendo Kisara should act like a hostess?! Satomi-kun should run out into the crowd and scream 'Tendo Civil Security Company is over here!' before catching on fire or exploding!"

Seriously, he really didn't understand this girl at times. "That's just terrorism…"

Deciding not to get heated up anymore on this subject, Kisara turned to her laptop. "Anyways, the Gastrea you encountered today was an infected, right?"

"Yeah. I didn't encounter the infection source. It's probably the same kind of single factor spider type. I bet some other agency found it and got rid of it."

She frowned as her search results came up negative. "Unfortunately, there has been no report of a spider type Gastrea being eliminated filed by any other company. Not only that, there hasn't been any witness reports."

"W-what?"

* * *

"Thank you for coming!"

After doing a quick count to make sure everything was present, Masao took the paid for grocery bags from the counter before heading out of the grocery store. Although people stared at him strangely due to his odd looking attire and the orange bat perched on his shoulder, they went about their usual business.

Just as he reached his parked motorcycle, the orange Kivat started chirping. "Masao, over there! Over there!"

"Hm?" He could spot a crowd gathering around a large garbage bin close to a restaurant. Upon going over there and getting a closer look, he spotted a girl who appeared to be the center of attention. She was in a dirty white outfit and had short red hair but what made her stand out were the red eyes.

Unlike Initiators, the typical Cursed Child is unable to hide her red eyes behind the eye colour she would have gotten if not for the Gastrea virus. This unfortunately causes them to be easily identified in public. Considering they had superhuman abilities, one would think that they could easily escape a crowd or steal food quietly without anyone noticing but then again, it wasn't like these children had teachers to help them refine those abilities. Heck, he was surprised that they could develop decent language skills and mobility. After all, girls had likely been on their own since being abandoned by their birth mothers who typically went insane when they see those red eyes.

She must have entered this part of the Tokyo Area to search for food. That would explain her scavenging at the garbage. To be honest though, cases of disposed food disappearing from garbage were common so he was a bit surprised that she got caught. Perhaps her hunger overwhelmed her sense of danger in this instance.

"That's one of those Cursed Children!"

"You goddamn freak! I lost my dad because of you!"

"Go back to the Outer District, red eyed monster!"

'So this is the hatred felt by the Deprived Generation…' He had heard from his colleague Sumire, about the people who lost relatives in that war and were scarred for life with those memories. They often lash out at the Cursed Children. This is the first time he had seen this with his own two eyes.

Honestly, it was times like this that Masao wished he had his father's talents. Conflict mediation was something the previous Kiva had mastered, with a good chunk of that coming from the ability to play a beautiful song from the violin and calm nerves down. He himself didn't have strong musical talent so he would have to handle this situation his own way.

Masao recalled Rentaro's words about those who helped Cursed Children in public often ended up being alienated. If he wanted to continue his work, he would have to approach this carefully.

"Kivat."

The orange bat nodded once before getting into position while the young man put on his yellow glasses and reached into his pocket for a miniature flashbang, designed to focus purely on visual disruption since Kivat would need sonar to make his way over to the child and drag her out of there. He had been hoping to test this device on a Gastrea since having another weapon in Ixa's arsenal would be handy for a quick getaway or a timely rescue but at the least, this worked fine on humans.

And just before the crowd's anger escalated further, Masao tossed it out to the ground where it activated and blinded everyone.

"My eyes!"

"I can't see!"

By the time the people regained their eyesight, the girl was gone while the noise of a motorcycle leaving the area roared in their ears.

* * *

"The hell?! To not even have one witness report on the infection source is impossible! If that's the case, why didn't you send out a warning?"

"That's why we have our jobs," replied Kisara before placing her laptop monitor down. "Since it's not in the police's net, it won't be easy to find."

Rentaro sighed once. "We'll need an expert's opinion on this. I'll go pay a visit to Sensei."

"Good. In the meantime, I'll contact other agencies to see if they have any information. We'll hunt down the other sources of infection!"

"Roger that." The boy noticed her packing her things up. "If you're going home, I'll walk you partway."

"I have a hemodialysis appointment today so I have to go to the hospital." She then looked around the office for a bit. "Hard to believe that it's been almost a year since you became a Promoter and met Enju-chan and Kurenai-kun."

"We're only part way to our goals… although I guess the belt Masao built for me will help speed up my progress," mumbled Rentaro. "I wonder if I can live up to the faith he placed in me. Can I really carry that title of Kamen Rider?"

"I think you'll be fine." Kisara gave a soft smile. "You know, you've changed quite a lot. You smile more and you cook now. I couldn't imagine the old you doing such things."

* * *

The motorcycle came to a stop before Masao dismounted from the vehicle and helped his passenger get off as well. "U-um… thank you."

"Come on, it's not too far from here." She followed the older man as he reached a manhole cover and knocked on it a few times. About fifteen seconds later, it popped open to reveal another small girl with short black hair and red eyes.

"Masao-nii!"

"Hey, I'm here to drop off the supplies. I also brought along a new friend who needs a place to stay for a while. Is that okay?"

"It's fine! You can talk to Elder!" She eagerly made room so that Masao, Kivat and their Cursed Child companion can enter the underground sanctuary. It didn't take him long to spot the old man in charge known as Matsuzaki.

"Ah, Masao-kun! How's everything?"

"I got your supplies for the week. Also brought along someone who could use a home," answered the young man while being mobbed by the Cursed Children who were happy to see him. Thankfully, Kivat distracted the girls so he could have a proper chat with the other man.

"Of course, she's more than welcome here. But I've told you before; this really isn't a proper place for her to grow up regardless of how safe it is."

"I don't know who else could take her. I mean, I could ask the IISO to take custody but…" He trailed off, looking rather uncomfortable.

Matsuzaki nodded in understanding. "Not every Cursed Child is fit to be an Initiator. And even then, there's no guarantee that they would be paired up with a good Promoter who would genuinely care for their overall well-being. You know, have you ever thought about becoming a Promoter yourself?"

"Hey, that's a whole new field of work. I'm more needed where I am now." After all, the IXA system wasn't going to fine tune itself and he had to quadruple check his work, making sure that everything worked properly with this world's technological constraints before submitting the data over to Shiba Heavy Weapons.

"Masao-nii, Masao-nii! Show her that cool thing that you can do!" In a split second, Masao's attention was turned to the Cursed Children.

"What are you talking about?" asked the redhead in confusion.

"He can transform into a superhero! It's the awesomest!" exclaimed another small child. "Masao-nii, please show her!"

Masao merely sighed before glancing back at Matsuzaki. "Work calls."

"Then you better get to it, young man! After all, bringing smiles to the faces of children is part of being a Rider."

"Kivat!" Without wasting a moment, Kivat flew into Masao's open right hand. Then he brought his left hand right to the orange bat's open jaws.

"_GABU!"_

The red haired girl watched stained glass tribal markings appeared on her rescuer's face as Kivat let out a hypnotic sonar noise. Ghostly chains appeared around his waist and wrapped around it before melting and becoming a blood red belt.

"Henshin!" After he attached Kivat to a perch in the front of the belt and left him hanging upside down, Masao was instantly covered in quicksilver that morphed and then shattered to reveal the armor that had a full black bodysuit as the base. The torso armor looked like a silver vest with a high collar and a blood red chest plate that mimicked muscles. The shoulder armor resembled folded bat wings that were held to the armor by thin chains.

He wore red armored gloves and the wrists sported silver bracelets. The right leg was covered with a silver iron boot that reached his knee and was wrapped tightly with chains, as if to hold something back. The left leg was unarmoured save for a silver bracelet around the ankle. Then the head was covered with a black helmet with the visor shaped like a pair of yellow bat wings edged in red. In between the top points of the wings was a red ornament, resembling a bat's head. The mouth guard was silver and framed by black fangs.

"Ta-daa! Well, what do you think?" asked Kamen Rider New Kiva as he posed for the audience.

"WAAAAIII!" The scene brought a smile to Matsuzaki's face as the girls mobbed their armoured big brother figure.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Wow, I actually came back to this story. As usual, this is low priority and will be written when I feel like it.**

**I will attempt to make Masao an interesting deuteragonist since this is still essentially Rentaro's story. Of course, finding some good plot points to use will be a challenge so if anyone's got any interesting ideas, feel free to mention that in your review.**


	3. Do the Evolution

**Disclaimer: I own nothing about Black Bullet or Kamen Rider.**

Gastrea – a mysterious virus that suddenly appeared before mankind. This virus enters the human body through bodily fluids causing infection. It alters the victim's DNA and form. Because of its contagiousness, it immediately spread throughout the entire world. After its breakout, Gastrea quickly took mankind's spot at the top of the food chain.

**Third Shot – Do the Evolution**

Every time Satomi Rentaro saw those doors which seemed more suitable as the final gate to a supervillain's lair, he got reminded of a particular tidbit in some pop culture list about becoming an Evil Overlord. Something along the lines of…

_**Before spending available funds on giant gargoyles, gothic arches, or other cosmetically intimidating pieces of architecture, I will see if there are any valid military expenditures that could use the extra budget.**_

In this case, instead of military expenditures, the extra funding could have gone to additional equipment that could be necessary for Gastrea research. Heck, even Masao could have probably used the extra money to build another new weapon for the IXA system.

'I think this looks pretty bad for a hospital…' He shoved those thoughts aside and made his way past those evil looking doors to enter the darkened laboratory, filled with books, Gastrea samples and other materials scattered around. "Sensei? Where are you?"

"Over here." Rentaro could make her silhouette out behind an operating table's curtain. As soon as he reached for it, it opened by itself and got a close encounter with the face of a corpse, causing him to back off reflexively.

"Whoa!"

"Haha! You're still weak against creepy things like this." The young female doctor's head poked up from behind the corpse. She had messy, purple hair that covered the whole of her forehead, as well as a prominent bang entirely covering her right eye and parts of her cheekbones. Arching around her eyes are a pair of thin eyebrows and, underneath, two slightly thick eyelashes which encompass her oval eyes and light irises. "Boo!"

"Don't scare me like that, Sensei!" Seriously, how did Masao put up with Sumire Muroto on a regular basis?

"Welcome to the Abyss. Let me introduce you to my new boyfriend, Charlie."

Rentaro stared at the male corpse. "I thought you had a girlfriend named Susan?"

"She's no longer here and now it's just him." Sumire placed the corpse back down on the operating table. "Corpses are great. They don't babble. Only they can understand my feelings."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The doctor simply moved towards a lab station and cleared some equipment away before taking a seat on the table, keeping an eye on a medium sized beaker containing purple liquid over a burner. "The Stage 1 Gastrea you defeated earlier was brought into the lab not too long ago. Can't you kill them more cleanly? You also left bullets all over the place. Not only are a perverted, lazy coward but you can't shoot worth a damn. Why haven't you killed yourself yet?"

"Hey, you can't blame me for that last one! The inspector used my gun while I used my belt!" corrected Rentaro.

"Eeeh, is that so?"

The young man cleared his throat in an attempt to calm his nerves down. "Well, in any case, I don't think I'm that much of a lost cause. Otherwise, Masao wouldn't have trusted me with the belt."

"If you don't shape up, Kisara will never look at you," replied Sumire, stirring the strange purple liquid.

Rentaro looked startled for a moment. "Where did that come from?!"

"If you like her, you should just make her yours by force. You have that belt now, right? Surely, that power would be more than enough to subdue her." The doctor reached for a pair of tongs and some additional trays.

"Kisara-san is a master of the Tendo Martial Arts of iaido. She would kill me in an instant. Honestly, if her kidney was fully functioning, I bet she would be the one using this belt and not me."

"When you lived in the Tendo household, Kisara was the one who protected you from her older brothers, right?" Sumire poured the purple mixture into one tray, letting it cool down and form a solid substance.

"Yeah. I think I've gotten strong enough to protect Kisara-san. The belt is proof of that."

"But you're still as worthless as ever?" Rentaro's nose then picked up an odd scent which came from the plate being offered to him by the doctor. He took it while she brought her own plate of 'food' to her computer. "Let's get down to business. You're not here to ask about the autopsy, right?"

"Sensei, there are no reports of eliminating or even spotting the Gastrea that was the source of the infection. At this rate, there will be more victims."

"Quiz time: do you know the unique characteristic of a jumping spider?"

Rentaro paused for a moment before his mind came up with the answer. "That would be the body colour, right? And it's known to jump when hunting its prey."

"Full marks," said Sumire as she bit into her own makeshift meal and swallowed the mouthful before going into her lecture. "By nature, even if an insect grew to the size of a human, it would no longer be able to use its jumping ability. It also wouldn't have the strength to support its own large body or breathe properly. But the Gastrea virus turns all of that around. When an organism turns into a Gastrea, the strength of its skin as well as its physical functions are elevated to compensate for size. So the bigger it is, the harder the skin and the stronger its muscles will become. And not only does the virus clone itself, it also factors in the host's DNA and adjusts the shape accordingly."

"I see."

"The erosion speed of the Gastrea virus is highly irregular. And once it's taken over more than 50% of the body, the host can no longer maintain a human form and becomes a Gastrea through constitution decay. Through this evolutionary process, new abilities are sometimes born. The source you have yet to find may have acquired a new power as well."

Rentaro thought about it for a moment while the doctor continued eating. "Like optimal camouflage?"

"If it really had that type of power, the Tokyo area could be destroyed by a pandemic as early as tomorrow."

"It'll be fine. That won't happen if Enju and I have anything to say about it."

Sumire placed down her plate. "Enju-chan, huh?"

"… What is it?"

"Sometimes the Cursed Children scare me. They appeared around the same time as the Gastrea ten years ago, almost as if they were born to fight them. Those girls with red eyes who are immune to the Gastrea virus, born from the wombs of mothers who contract it from an aerial infection… they truly are a special existence. But enough of that. I gave you enough lessons for today."

"In that case, I'll start with what you told me and see if I can find any clues that could confirm the existence of a camouflage ability." Rentaro placed his own plate down and prepared to leave.

"You haven't touched your plate," noted the doctor.

"Well-"

He was interrupted when the lab doors opened again to allow a third occupant to enter and drop by the area where he and the doctor were talking earlier. "How's it going, you two?"

"Hello there, Masao-kun. I was just lecturing Rentaro here about the importance of finishing his food. But since you're here, you can take his portion." Sumire even pointed out to the sitting plate which still had the steaming contents present and producing odd purple bubbles.

"…"

"Or if you want, you can come back to my place and I'll cook dinner. We only got bean sprouts though," offered Rentaro.

"I'm in for that but let's at least get some proper ingredients," replied Masao immediately. "I'll pay."

"Thanks!" With that, the two young males prepared to leave the laboratory.

"But what about this plate? It's just going to go to waste," pouted Sumire behind them.

That particular dilemma was evidently resolved by a certain Kivat-bat the Fourth swooping in and devouring every last bit of the 'food' before falling to the ground with his grey eyes looking rather… dizzy. "The whole world is spinning! Yahoo~!"

"Good thing I didn't eat that then. Who knows what's actually in it," grumbled Masao as he picked up his companion.

"Hey, I've been eating it for years and I turned out perfectly normal!" exclaimed the scientist.

On cue, both young men gave her the exact same sarcastic response. "Right…"

* * *

The shopping trip had been uneventful. A few additional ingredients were picked up, namely vegetables, a few cuts of meat and some pre-packaged noodles so that Rentaro could do a stir fry when they both returned to his apartment.

"It's hard to believe that there's an ongoing war against monsters when you travel through the Tokyo Area," murmured Masao while his motorcycle was stopped at a red light.

Rentaro merely shifted his posture in the sidecar while holding on to the grocery bags. "You fought some monsters in your own world too, right? Fanpires?"

"Fangires," corrected the other young man. "And now you believe me when I said I came from a different 2030?"

"Well, the fact that you built a suit of armour based off a circuit board that would have never been produced in this world may have had something to do with convincing me," came the snarky reply. "But honestly, I guess it was a crazy stroke of luck that you were carrying it with you."

"Indeed." Masao could remember that incident well. Before he had to make that emergency trip to the past and stop the Neo-Fangire, he had been studying the foundation of the old IXA Version X system as part of his engineering apprenticeship program at the Wonderful Blue Sky Organization. In his haste, he had stuffed the small circuit board into his pocket and that ended up allowing him to develop an IXA system equivalent to the Version X for this timeline.

The rest of the trip was silent until they finally reached Rentaro's apartment building. Once the motorcycle was parked in the parking lot, the young male resumed the discussion. "So how much longer will I need to field test the system for?"

"I probably would think another few weeks. Two months tops." The younger Kurenai looked a little puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

Rentaro hopped out of the sidecar. "I don't know if I'm the right person to be getting you the optimal results. After all, my IP rank with Enju is only at 120,000. You can probably find higher ranked Promoters around easily."

"That may be true but to me, rank means nothing. Using that power responsibly to do the right thing is what's important and in my view, you score high enough on that front." An odd grin came to Masao's face. "And of course, you have Kivat's vote of confidence too which really influenced my decision."

"So basically a little orange cartoonish bat is what got me the job as Ixa. Gee, I feel so special." The two shared a laugh while making their way to the apartment door. As soon as he opened it, he noticed a familiar pair of shoes already at the front indicating that his ward was already home. "Enju, we have a guest over for dinner so make sure you're-"

He was cut off by a door opening before Aihara Enju came into view, with a towel clad around her body and another towel being used to dry her long hair. "Ah, welcome back Rentaro! I passed on that man's last message to his family so don't worry about that!"

"… decent."

"So this is a typical evening in your household?" asked Masao in a flat tone.

"That's right! After a hard day's work, me and Rentaro confirm our love for one another-"

"No, we don't!" shouted the Promoter, interrupting Enju's delusion. "Now go get changed!"

"Okay~!" While the smaller girl left to go to her room, a thoughtful 'Hm' came from Rentaro's guest which got the boy curious.

"What is it?"

"Well, I guess her aggressive flirtations make sense. Enju's a model Rabbit, right?"

All Rentaro could do at that point was sigh before he headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

* * *

The meal had gone fairly quietly. Masao had been expecting that Kivat would have awoken by the aroma and dived into the food but apparently, Sumire's cooking was strong enough to keep him out for a bit longer. He did at least box a small portion for his partner to enjoy later though before he left the apartment building to head back to his assigned dorm on campus.

While it was unusual for a faculty member to live in a student dorm, having that proximity close to the laboratory and the workshop where he developed the IXA system was necessary since his work could help change the direction of the Gastrea conflict.

Budget wise, he had a generous steady source of funds. Tendo Kikunojyo, the right hand of the Tokyo Area ruler herself, saw to that once he had a better grasp on what Masao could bring to the table thanks to the youth displaying a prototype of the Ixa Calibur and demonstrating how damaging it could be. And this meeting likely wouldn't have happened if he had not met Satomi Rentaro since the boy was the adopted son of the older politician. So in a sense, he owed Rentaro a lot as well.

After he parked his motorcycle at the multi storey residential building, he headed towards the elevator to go up to the thirteenth floor where his dorm was located. It wasn't anything too fancy and was about the size of a standard bachelor's apartment in Japan. Just enough space for one person to live comfortably in.

As soon as Masao locked the door behind him, he went to pour himself a glass of water in his kitchen before turning on a light switch to illuminate his living room, not even batting an eye at the unwelcome visitor. "Normally, I'm somewhat receptive to people visiting me but when you just make yourself at home like this, I really can't get in the hospitality mood. You get what I'm saying?"

There was one occupant on the living room couch: a pale, lean man, with slicked-back, grey hair; reaching to the back of his neck, and moderate sized ears. His entire face is covered by a white mask, only leaving portions of his jawline exposed. The mask itself is a simple design with a mischievous smirk running from its cheekbones down to slightly above the jawline and arching back up to his opposite cheekbone. Granting him visibility are two crescent-shaped spots flowing downwards, forming a wicked portrayal along with the mouth piece.

The man's upper body is completely covered by a connected jacket with three buttons on either side. The jacket's collars are flipped, giving view to a plant-like design on the inside and several diagonal lines on the higher areas. The jacket's end spots a split cape elongating to his feet. Underneath the jacket was a white shirt with many buttons and a small collar, as well as a small bow-tie around his neck. His lower regions are covered by a pair of pants spotting multiple lines jutting downwards. Circling around his thighs are two straps which likely meant he was carrying weapons. A pair of white gloves covered his hands and a magician's hat rested on top of his head.

"Ah, my apologies." From the way he said it though, it was clear he was not being sincere about it.

Masao quickly downed the water, not taking his eye off the other man for a moment since he seemed to be no ordinary intruder. "What is it you want?"

"Just some information on a subject that has caught my interest. Namely…" The yellow eyes that could be seen through the eyeholes of the mask blazed with an intense curiosity. "Intercept x Attacker… or what you call Project IXA."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Well, there you have it. More to come when I feel like it. As for other Riders beyond New Kiva and Ixa, I'm still thinking about it.**


	4. Devil with an Angel's Smile

Gastrea – a mysterious virus that suddenly appeared before mankind. This virus enters the human body through bodily fluids causing infection. It alters the victim's DNA and form. Because of its contagiousness, it immediately spread throughout the entire world. After its breakout, Gastrea quickly took mankind's spot at the top of the food chain.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing about Black Bullet or Kamen Rider.**

**Fourth Shot – Devil with an Angel's Smile**

'Great… so instead of a typical intruder, I have a skilled mercenary right here in my living room.'

After all, the existence of Project IXA still remained hidden from the general public and even the IISO for the time being. The elder Tendo had stated that announcing the existence of such a weapon prematurely could bring in unwanted attention. Masao figured that there was more at play here and had opted not to dig his nose into it. But now, the political power play had landed right at his doorstep.

"Well, what's there to know about that project? It's only another tool being developed for Promoters. It's no different than the Black Bullets made from Varanium."

"Oh, I beg to differ." The masked man got up from the couch. "According to my sources, Project IXA is essentially a combat suit designed to enhance a Promoter's strength and speed and improve combat performance to the point where they can fight in the field like Initiators."

Okay, this is getting disturbing. What type of network did this guy have?

"This got me interested. I had to look more into this and when I found out that you were the one heading the project, I just had to come see you in person. Now, about the suit…"

Masao stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. "There's nothing to say right now. We've only begun field tests and it'll take some time to analyze the results and compile the report together."

Just as he said that though, he felt something ram hard into him and pin him to the ground. When he looked up, he saw a girl with short blue hair and red eyes, wielding a pair of short swords with the blades made out of Varanium. Her attire consisted of a small dress with many intricate designs in the middle areas, connected to a bottom skirt that covers her entire lower body. The blouse displayed a set of lighter color edges on either side of the loose shoulder garments. Around her neck, with lighter outlines visible as well, the blouse is gifted with a hole revealing a small portion of her chest. Further; her stomach is covered by a slightly thicker adornment that spots a display of complex artwork. On her back was a piece of clothing that allowed her to sheath her double blades. Finally, the bottom of the dress that covered her lower regions seems to have two layers of clothing, resembling petals, and being of a light color.

"Papa, I think he's lying," said the blue haired girl with her tone reflecting her eagerness to kill while lowering the blades to mere millimeters above his neck. "Can I cut him?"

"Kohina, wait," ordered the elder man sternly which caused the small girl to pout.

"Awww…"

'She's obviously an Initiator… and her name is Kohina?' It took only a moment for Masao to put the pieces together and deduce the identity of the masked man. "That must make you Hiruko Kagetane."

"You're well informed." Kagetane tipped his hat slightly, a small gesture of acknowledgement.

"Well, when researching and developing new weapons for Promoters, I had to familiarize myself with the number of active pairs to see who would be suitable for field testing my prototype equipment." He paused for a bit, feeling a certain someone shift in his pocket before inching his bare left hand closer to it. "If my memory serves me right, you were a real high ranking pair before you had your license revoked for excessive killing. My guess is that you've decided to go into mercenary work and that whoever hired you is looking to get their hands on Project IXA. How am I doing?"

"That's not a bad guess but if we're going to continue playing this game, then we might as well relocate to a more secure location." Upon hearing what her father said, Kohina flipped one of her swords around so that she would knock Masao out with the handle but just as she started to bring the handle down on his skull…

"_GABU!"_

... a high pitched sound erupted and forced the pair to back off and cover their ears. Out of the corner of her right red eye, she spotted some red belt form on the man's waist before a small orange cartoon bat flew out of his pocket and took position in the centre of the belt.

"Henshin!"

"No, you don't!" Kohina fought the pain ringing in her ears and tried to bring her blades down on the man's chest only for the weapons to bounce off red pectoral armour. "Eh?!"

Before she could fully register what was happening, New Kiva's hands moved to take a hold of the blades and snap them in half with a good twist of the wrist. He then got up to his full height while keeping his yellow lens on Kagetane. "Kid, go take a timeout while I chat with your dad."

"Papa! He broke them! Those were my favourite swords!" whined the small girl, sounding a lot more like a normal child compared to the bloodthirsty tone she had earlier.

"I'll get you some new ones later. Right now…"

She got the message and moved out of the way just as her father made the first move, throwing out a quick punch. His fist moved at a speed faster than the average human can see and even Masao had a tough time keeping track of it, only managing to deflect it partially so that it landed against a heavier armour section to minimize damage. If it were any other type of armour, Kagetane's punch would have either torn through it or at the least put a huge dent in it. So he was actually fairly surprised that his blow didn't seem to have much of an effect on his opponent's armour integrity.

While the former Promoter was occupied with those thoughts, New Kiva retaliated with his own punch. On reaction, Kagetane put up his Repulsion Shield and while the Rider's fist bounced off of it, he was startled at how his barrier reacted when intercepting the enemy's attack, rattling slightly which was rather unusal. His technique, the Repulsion Shield is able to block off any and all attacks coming from any direction and can also return attacks and projectiles such as bullets from the original opposing side. The defensive power of this move allowed the user to become capable of blocking incoming attacks from Stage IV Gastrea, earning its title as the "strongest shield".

"So an entire set of power armour constructed out of Varanium?" mused the masked man.

"Good guess but not quite." Masao brought up his chained leg to try and land a kick but Kagetane flipped backwards, whipping out one of his pistols before landing and unloading the entire round at the Rider, causing a few sparks to fly from his chest armour. Otherwise, he wasn't really affected and kept running towards the former Promoter but his swift speed allowed him to stay out of reach.

"And your armour's able to ignore Black Bullets as well. How interesting." A cool chuckle came from Kagetane. "If you had more skill as a fighter, I might be a little worried."

"Hey, I admit that I'm not the best of fighters. First and foremost, I consider myself an engineer. You know… someone who solves practical problems by inventing ways to deal with them." New Kiva reset his stance. "If you want, I can show you how I deal with rogue Mechanical Soldiers if you decide to continue this little game."

"…?!"

Masao smiled underneath his mask upon seeing the way his opponent stiffened. "I'm sure you heard of them. Originating from the New Human Creation Plan, selected individuals had their internal organs fused with Varanium in order to develop superhuman abilities to combat the Gastrea. When the Cursed Children were discovered, this plan was abandoned. And judging by the way you fought, I can tell that you're one of them which makes you an ideal guinea pig. Interested in sticking around? I mean… it's not like you're inexperienced at being a guinea pig."

With a whole new box of mysteries opened about the figure in bat armour in front of him and a feeling of uncertainty in terms of what that man knew and had up his sleeve, Kagetane decided that it was best to retreat for now. "Kohina, we're leaving."

The pair quickly made their leave by blasting an opening through one of the apartment walls to leap into the outside and out into the night. Masao waited for a full minute before sighing in relief, thankful for Sumire sharing some stories of that project with him. Otherwise, he likely wouldn't have been able to make such a convincing bluff.

After deactivating his armour, he moved to make some phone calls. First call would be to the elder Tendo's office to let him know that his location was compromised and that he needed to be moved. And the second would be to get a place for the night. He could go get a hotel but he would rather save those funds in case more supplies were needed for the Cursed Children under Matsuzaki's care. With that in mind, he made his second call to Satomi Rentaro.

"_Hello?"_

"It's me, Masao. Sorry for the late call but my apartment got trashed by an unwanted intruder. Can I spend the night at your place?"

"_Yeah, sure. I'll have a guest futon out for you when you get here."_

"Thanks!" He heard a bit of shuffling as the phone was taken away from Rentaro before a little girl's voice shouted right into his ear.

"_My plans for the evening are ruined! You are the worst, you… you cockblocker!"_

Click. The phone line went dead.

As Masao replaced the receiver, only one thought came to mind. "I really don't want to know how she knows such a word."

"Masao's a cockblocker! Masao's a cockblocker!" chirped the orange bat cheerfully as he flew around his master's head.

"Shut up, Kivat."

* * *

"Good morning!"

A chorus of 'Mornings' from the other division members greeted the young man as he arrived at the Special Investigation Unit's office and got to his workstation.

"Tomari, there's a visitor here to see you. He's waiting in the briefing room."

"Hm?" Curious at what the Chief meant, he headed to the room at the end of the hallway and poked his head in, seeing another young Japanese man with his short black hair somewhat curled up at the ends. His attire consisted of a sharp police dress uniform with a tie. Upon spotting the person at the door, the dressed officer stood up.

"Detective Tomari Eiji of the Special Investigation Unit?"

"Yes, that's me."

"G-Men Division Chief, Kurosaki Reiji," came the quick introduction. "I'll cut to the chase. How familiar are you with Kurenai Masao?"

Eiji paused for a moment. "Er… if I recall, he's the one who inherited the title of Kiva and vanished about five years ago."

"The truth is that he wasn't supposed to disappear. He should have returned safely to the year 2030 once the Neo Fangire mess got cleaned up in 2008. It's likely that during his trip through time, a temporal wrinkle occurred and shifted him to another timeline."

"Temporal wrinkle?"

"It's how we define minor aftershocks in the timeline that keep occurring thanks to the damage caused by Shocker's History Modifying Machine over twenty years ago," explained Reiji. "These have been showing up all over the place. My group's been running ragged trying to smooth these out. Same goes to the Liner crews. We don't have any spare personnel to investigate this case."

Eiji nodded once. "I see. I'll be happy to help but I admit that the Time Road's not quite as sturdy compared to a Liner."

"That shouldn't be a problem. You're still capable of travelling through time with it." Reiji straightened his uniform. "We're counting on you to resolve this swiftly as a favour to the current Fangire King. He would be deeply grateful if we were to recover his family member quickly."

"Understood!"

* * *

As Masao felt Kivat's nudging to help him wake up, he could hear Enju complaining at the kitchen table while the morning news was on TV. "Honestly, you pass up an offer from a lady and open your home to let a man in? Are you into men?!"

"First off, there's no big deal about helping a friend. Second, ladies are prudent, modest and are not supposed to be as flat as a board," replied Rentaro flatly, causing Enju to cover her chest by reflex.

"T-they'll get bigger soon enough!"

"Seriously, it's important to know when to give up." The boy noticed Masao yawning from his spot on the couch. "Morning."

"Morning. Got any coffee around here?"

"Sorry, just tea. I'll fix you a cup. There's some toast on the table already." Rentaro moved to retrieve some hot water while Masao took a spot, grabbing a slice of spare toast and spreading some margarine over it. His eyes darted to the TV, seeing the crowd get riled up with a reporter directing the cameraman to point to a specific figure at the top of a balcony of some fancy building, likely a government structure.

The figure turned out to be a young female with pale skin and a small frame. She is gifted with thin, white eyebrows and thick, superlative white eyelashes surrounding round eyes that encompass light irises. Her white hair covered her forehead, leaving only several portions visible. It is kept in messy standard; moving to the centre of her face. A pack of hair fell directly to her small nose, in between her eyes. It looked like her ears are hidden under her white hair.

She had on a fancy white dress. The upper piece is designed with several objects donning swirling circles all over. On either side of her shoulders, there are two ribbons and a thick emblem in the middle. The bottom of the dress, covering her thighs, displayed an opening which revealed part of her legs, which are covered by white tights. The end piece of the dress is intricately shaped to resemble cherry blossoms. Finally, her head is covered by a white hat that has roses-like objects attached at the side.

She was known as Seitenshi, the ruler and protector of the Tokyo Area.

"She's arrived! Seitenshi-sama has just shown up on the balcony! She has appeared beside her advisor Tendo Kikunojyo!" came the report from the news crew at the scene.

Enju swallowed the last bit of her breakfast. "Isn't that old man Rentaro's….?"

"Enju, go get ready for school," interrupted the Promoter.

"Kay!" Once she left to get her school bag for the day, Rentaro placed the tea down by Masao's side and turned off the TV.

"So… who attacked you last night?"

After taking a sip of the tea, the other man recalled the appearance of the attacker. "He looked like a magician with a top hat and a white mask with a smiley face."

"You met that guy too?!"

"Where did you meet him?" asked Masao.

"It was at the apartment of the victim from yesterday's call. He's crazy strong and took out some of Inspector Tadashima's men without any real effort. He said he planned to destroy the world and that nobody could stop him," said Rentaro quietly.

"Rentaro, be careful out there. He knows about the Ixa armour and if he gets his hands on it…"

The Promoter gave a glum nod of understanding. "Yeah, I gotcha. I'm guessing the only reason why you got out of that mess is because of your own armour."

"Now that he's seen it, he'll probably be able to be ready for it next time. Which means I gotta hustle on finishing my own personal upgrades," said Masao before downing the rest of his tea.

"What upgrades?"

"Don't worry about it. You have other things to focus on. I'll see you around." As he got up and prepared to leave for work, his thoughts drifted towards how he can get his Fuestles working again since he was in a different world all together.

'Looks like I have to give those specialized Gastrea viral strains a try…'

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Wow, I came back to this. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you around.**


End file.
